


Of Soldiers And Hugs

by Huntress79



Series: The Redemption Of Bucky Barnes [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, superhero_land
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 03:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20650460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress79/pseuds/Huntress79
Summary: Now that Bucky’s back, everyone else is unsure on how to proceed around him.





	Of Soldiers And Hugs

**Author's Note:**

> written for superhero_land’s “Pass It On Writing” and the prompt “Can I hug you? Do we hug?” by jaquelee. Part of my “The Redemption of Bucky Barnes” series, set after “A New Normal”. Enjoy!

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After the initial hustle-bustle of him turning up at Stark Tower, the excitement about “the Winter Soldier turning himself in” (as one of the newspapers titled before Stark’s legal department pulled a stop to all reports at all) slowly died down. Which was good, since Bucky had quite some trouble to keep his newfound equilibrium when everyone else was, more or less, vibrating with equal tension, excitement and fear.

From Fury to pretty much every scientist on this planet, they all prodded and poked at him, and in the first week or so, Bucky found himself spending more time in either a lab or a conference room than anywhere else. Steve, Sam, Nat, Pepper, and surprisingly Tony, stepped in when they felt it was enough to call it day, but in hindsight, Bucky didn’t really mind it. It wasn’t that far away from the HYDRA labs, with the wonderful difference that he (a) wasn’t punished at all, and (b) there was no looming threat of being wiped all over again, thank you very much.

Soon enough, Fury ran out of questions, and the scientists had sated their curiosity (which was probably the result of Tony putting his foot down and, more or less, throwing them out of “his” tower). And so, Bucky finally could focus on working on his social contacts, outside of Steve, who had the patience of a saint most of the time.

Sitting at the breakfast table one morning, with all the others scattered around him, Bucky couldn’t help but notice one thing. They all tried to be casual about it, but somehow, except for Steve, they all kept a safe distance to him. Were they still afraid of him? Afraid that one wrong move and he would revert back to the killing machine he once was?

“Hey, Steve,” he said once they were back at their shared apartment, “do you know why they all keep a distance to me?” He felt insecurity creeping up his spine. “Is it because of my past?”

“What?” Steve shook his head. “No, Buck, not at all.” He sat down at the couch and motioned for Bucky to join him. “I’m no expert, but I think they’re all afraid to overwhelm you with personal touches.” Seeing Bucky frown, he continued. “They all know by now the difference between these days and the 1930’s, and they all think that you either be repulsed by any show of affection or that it would be awkward.” He shrugged, a soft chuckle escaping. “You should have seen them back when I was fresh out of the ice. Except for Tony, they all traipsed around me as if one wrong word or move would shatter me in a million pieces.”

“Have they ever heard of trying it first and judge later?”

“Probably, but I don’t think they buy it. Besides, you already know that each single one of them has their own crazy package to deal with, so it’s most likely a combination of everything, topped with a dollop of social awkwardness.”

“Thanks, pal. Guess it’s on me to break the proverbial ice, right?”

“Right.”

*********************

A couple of days later, the Avengers were called to help with yet another alien invasion, and while Bucky stayed back at the Tower and watched it all together with Pepper and Maria in the control room, he couldn’t help but let out a whoop when the combined forces of the Hulk, Thor and Steve brought down the hive-like mothership, resulting in the immediate collapse of the aliens.

Before he knew it, he was grabbed by Maria, but before she engulfed him in a hug, she paused.

“Can I hug you? Do we hug?”

“Of course you can hug me, Hill. It’s not that I would break and shatter from a hug. You know, superhero serum in my veins.”

And with that, the spell was broken. From that day on, Bucky found himself on the receiving end of a hug quite a lot.

*********************

**The End**

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